The recurrence of extreme weather events has led to the development of methods for assessing the vulnerability and interdependencies of physical and human systems. A case example is Hurricane Maria , where Puerto Rico experienced damage to 80% of its electrical power system, leading to massive disruptions of essential services for months.
Here we evaluate the effectiveness of various interventions aimed at reducing vulnerability by considering power and water infrastructure and respective water–power dependencies while also considering the social vulnerability of affected communities associated with the physical infrastructure upgrades. On the basis of the current infrastructure configuration, we found that all communities suffered enormously from power and water outages.